Don't Lock Your Knees

When I was learning in hand work, my teacher placed a huge emphasis on my own posture. She considered it far more important than the horse's: "If you can't be in balance, how can you hope to affect the horse's balance?"

I spent a lot of time learning, by myself without a horse, how to walk evenly over the balls of each foot, to keep a rhythmic way of going, to breathe deeply in movement, and to keep my knees slightly bent in an athletic stance, even at a stand still.

A person with their knees very slightly bent, with their hips above their feet, ribs above the hips, and shoulders and chest wide and stacked above the ribs could be in balance, ready to go in any direction smoothly. If the knees were locked, the person could use minimal core control to steady themselves, but would inevitably make choppy, stumbling steps forward, or be completely unprepared to move with the horse.

This is something you can play with yourself easily in your day to day life - at the grocery store, while standing and cooking, or wherever you like :

feel the weight over both your feet evenly. Feel a slight bend in your knees and stack your hips above your feet. Expand your bottom ribs forward so your core is above your hips and you can breathe deeply into your belly. Let your collar bones be wide and lifted, your shoulders above your hips and your back straight but not arched or tense. Lift your head up and back in line with your spine - see how this feels.

Of course, do not force yourself into any position that feels painful - and always check with a practitioner if you are unsure how your own body falls into this. Everyone is very different -

It may be tiring at first since it is new and requires different activation. But notice how easy it is to move left, right, forward or backward, to be able to stop or go in a moments notice like a cat, not stumbling around.

Once this is easy for you and normal, take it to the horse, and see the difference it makes